All I Want For Christmas (Is To Give My Love Away)
The last thing that Addison Montgomery bargained for was to absolutely hate the game of surgical 'secret Santa'.
ELEVEN
"Are you hungry?" Meredith Grey walks up to ask Addison Forbes Montgomery after she finishes her surgery.
"Starving," Addison replies easily, as she concludes her chart notes.
"Any particular cravings?" Meredith asks her.
You.
"Not really," Addison replies nonchalantly (hopefully!).
"How about pizza then?" Meredith asks her.
With you.
"Sounds lovely," says Addison, as she picks up her keys. "I can drive," she says, wanting something to do with her hands so she's not fidgety.
"Lead the way," Meredith says, as she picks up her coat to follow the redhead.
'Now I'm really nervous,' both Addison and Meredith think in their heads.
This was going to be interesting.
"So are you one of those people who eats pizza with a knife and fork?" Meredith asks Addison suspiciously.
"Only when the toppings fall off," offers Addison.
"Fancy," Meredith giggles.
"I like a lot of toppings," Addison offers back.
They head to a pizza establishment that Addison has discovered during her time in Seattle, and after some brief negotiations, they end up with one medium pizza to share.
"Bon apétit," says Addison, as she serves Meredith a piece on her plate.
"See, definitely fancy," says Meredith, as she hands Addison a napkin.
"We learned it in french class," Addison laughed.
"We didn't say it often, but we grew up hearing that on television," Meredith supplies.
The conversation from there flows simply and easily, and Addison is pleased with how she's able to uphold her end of the chatter without internally combusting.
Meredith on the other hand, is pleased that she's able to continue to watch Addison delicately consume the plethora of toppings without either moaning inappropriately, or running for the hills from the sheer intensity of emotion it produces in her.
"So are you gonna be upset if I steal the extra toppings from the bottom of the box with my fingers then?" Meredith asks Addison challengingly, after they finish the slices.
"Not if I beat you to them," says Addison, as she moves to quickly suck the remaining sauce off of her thumb so she can grasp her fork in her hand more comfortably.
"Mm, my fingers are tasty," Addison says aloud, before she reddens completely in embarrassment.
"Interesting," Meredith muses, while a wide smirk graces her lips along with her amused expression. "I'll have to take that into consideration," she adds, her voice deliberately dropping an octave.
Addison takes a full gulp of her soda to cool herself off from Meredith's scathing expression.
Holy hell.
The rest of the lunchtime passes without relative incident, and ending with Meredith insisting on footing the bill because it was her idea to eat out in the first place.
"What's a pizza between friends, huh?" Meredith cheers.
"Absolutely," says Addison, as she nervously twirls her finger around her card, as she puts it back neatly into her wallet.
And she's chivalrous, too.
As for buying dessert, though, that's when things start to get even more interesting.
"Y'know, I'm not so sure I could eat an entire piece of cheesecake by myself," Meredith muses, as Addison leads her to a cake shop that sells fancy cakes to be eaten in individual pieces.
"Well, I suppose I could help you along," Addison teases, as she suggests one that is covered in chocolate.
"You're on," says Meredith, as she picks out two spoons.
The final kicker though, is the beauty of the two-person table, which is right by the window, and rather small.
They're sitting close, and with the length of Addison's legs, she can't help but be in contact with Meredith's legs over their cake-eating.
Meredith doesn't seem to be set back by this little game of footsie though; instead, she continues it by gently sliding her foot up onto Addison's calf and back again, slowly and ever so slowly working her way slightly higher each time.
Addison tries to keep focusing on the conversation, but she's simultaneously lost in all of the contact, and when Meredith's right foot is nearing the inside of her knee, that's when she finally cannot stay quiet any longer.
"Meredith…" Addison warns.
"Mm?" Meredith raises her eyebrows at her 'innocently.'.
Addison sighs loudly, as she continues to talk with the blonde, as Meredith keeps increasing her ministrations.
Addison can't figure out whether or not the gestures are overtly flirtatious, but she can definitely tell she's becoming addicted to them. The soft contact over a calm conversion is a lovely break from a hard day.
And all Addison can think of is that they still will get to hang out at the party together.
"So… Do you have a good guess for whom your secret Santa might have been?" Meredith asks Addison as she bites into the chocolate cheesecake.
"Nooo-" Addison squeaks out, running through in her mind who hers could have possibly been.
"Any guesses as to whether or not the person knows that the gifts you've been giving them have been yours?" Meredith asks Addison dangerously.
"No idea…" Addison tries her best to maintain her composure.
Addison wishes at that moment that she'd been better at poker.
"Interesting…" Meredith smirks, as she deliberately takes a large bite of dessert, and closes her eyes and rolls her tongue around it to appreciate it. "Delicious," Meredith says with reverence.
Addison takes another gulp of her soda.
The sight of the blonde thoroughly enjoying a dessert with only her is enough to tug on Addison's heartstrings, and she longs for some reason to confess right then and there all the gifts that she'd planned for the blonde… But this she knows, is not the time and/or place to be making such heartfelt speeches… So she saves that for another time.
"Oops, we don't want to be late for the party, now do we?" Meredith says, as she picks up the last bite of cheesecake with her fork.
"Nope," says Addison, as she pouts at not having been offered the last bite of cake before Meredith had selected it.
"Do you want it?" Meredith does offer, and Addison swears she can feel Meredith's eyes darkening as she glances down at the chocolate cheesecake bite and back.
"May I?" Addison asks her politely.
Meredith nods slowly at her, before she makes a 'come-hither' motion with her finger to Addison, drawing her in, and then reaching over to place her left hand onto Addison's shoulder while she feeds her with the fork with her right hand.
"Pretty good, huh," Meredith whispers slowly.
"Mhmm," Addison moans out this time, savoring her last bite, and also the contact with Meredith as she holds her while she eats it. Addison doesn't want Meredith to pull away quite yet, so she stays there in place, running the cream over her lips, and licking them as Meredith rubs little circles over her shoulder.
"Perhaps the party will have more of that later…" Meredith husks to the redhead.
Somehow, Addison images perhaps too hopefully that Meredith isn't talking about the cheesecake.
By the time they arrive at the party, everyone else has already set themselves up in a circle, and has been directed by Callie with their future instructions.
"Alright, so now that everyone has had seven days' worth of gifts, we're going to go around the circles and everyone is going to share one of their favorite presents with the group," Callie starts.
Seeing as Meredith and Addison were the only two left to arrive, both of them end up next to each other at the far end of the circle near the door.
"Well, I especially loved the nerf gun," says Preston Burke, and everyone groans remembering this.
"Definitely the stuffed frog," says Izzie, "It's the fuzziest!" She adds.
"The pants," says Derek.
"Hey, I was going to say that," Mark rolls his eyes at his friend.
"Well I definitely appreciated the 'Chief,' mug," says Dr. Webber.
"The bracelet," says Callie, while pointing to it.
"The Rubik's cube," says Cristina, while solving it in a mere ten seconds.
"The puzzle," says Alex.
"The bouncy ball," says George.
"R2D2 the vacuum," Bailey beams.
And with only Meredith and Addison left, Meredith enjoys watching the redhead squirm as she says "bubbles," and everyone smiles at that.
"Well…" Meredith draws out her sentence just enough to build more dramatic tension. "You all know what I received at the bar…" The blonde winks at everyone. "But you should have seen just what I'll be wearing it with…" Meredith smirks like a Cheshire cat as she sees everyone's jaw drop, and eventually, as Addison comes to the realization of just what Meredith must have purchased with her gift card, she flushes completely, and she has to hide her hands in her pockets so that they stop visibly shaking.
"Are you going to elaborate on that?" Mark asks predictably, all whilst licking his lips in pure exaggeration.
"Wait, but what exactly did she receive at the bar?" Asks Dr. Webber.
"Trust me, you don't want to know," Bailey says sternly.
"Well alright then," Richard wisely nods at that comment.
"I think you can figure it out," Meredith teases, and Addison fumes off the blonde's comment to her ex-... someone.
"Nice!" Mark chirps, and Addison reaches across Bailey's lap and slaps him on the wrist.
"Hey, what was that for?" Mark pouts a bit, but also looks smug, as if he somehow knows something that Addison doesn't.
"She doesn't have to share if she doesn't want to," Addison huffs.
"Yeah, maybe… Don't…" Derek whimpers, and Addison squints at him.
'Since when did I start appreciating Derek not flirting with Meredith for all the wrong reasons!?' Addison huffs to herself.
"Ahem, could we get back to the game please," Callie segues them.
"Yes, thank you," Addison sighs.
(She can feel Meredith's smirk before she even sees it.)
The next portion of the game is the guessing, and that's the part of it that stresses Addison Montgomery out the most.
"Everyone gets three guesses, but you get more karma points if you guess it the first time," Callie explains to everyone.
"I'm making a spreadsheet!" Cristina says proudly.
"Are there prizes?" Alex asks her.
"There were gifts all week for that!" Callie says.
"But these are for guessing right," says Mark.
"Your secret Santa could give you a prize for guessing right," says Derek.
"But I didn't know we had to organize that," says George.
"What if there was more time to do that part," says Izzie.
"Well, that would make sense, because if they don't guess you the first time you don't need to get a prize anyway," offers Bailey.
"Wait is there a price limit for the prizes?" Richard asks them.
"Would we want one?" Burke comments.
"Well, would we want one to be fair?" Meredith asks everyone.
"We could keep it the same," Addison offers, because she doesn't want to financially stress out any of the interns.
"Is that okay with everyone?" Callie asks everyone, and they all nod with her.
"So who guesses first?" Cristina asks her, "because whoever guesses first is at a disadvantage because there are more choices," she explains. "I've made a progressive point score to compensate for this," she adds.
"Do you want to then?" Callie asks her, and Cristina nods back at her.
"I think mine was Bailey," says Cristina confidently. "Because she'd know all the latest fidget toys because she has her son," she explains.
"But I find fidget toys so annoying," Bailey protests.
"But am I wrong?" Cristina asks her.
"No…" Bailey sighs.
"Ha!" Cristina smirks widely.
"Of course she isn't…" George grumbles.
"Alright who is next?" Callie says to move things along a little.
"I nominate Mark," says Cristina. "What, I guessed right so I get to choose right?" Cristina mentions.
"Go ahead Mark," Callie shrugs at Cristina, and Mark grins widely.
"Derek," he announces proudly.
"What, not me?" Addison protests, because he had accused her earlier.
"You're a terrible liar," says Mark.
"True," says Derek.
"So are you," Mark grins.
"Thanks…" Derek sighs, and facepalms. "I am amazing!" Mark grins.
"Shut up," says Derek.
"Who do you want to guess next?" Asks Callie.
"Hmm… How about Addison," Mark grins evilly.
"Oh, umm-, hmmmmmmmmmmmmm…." Addison fumbles, blushing as she remembers all of the bath products.
Addison's heart thumps, as she thinks in her head how her first instinct is to guess 'Meredith,' because she wants it to be, and she pictures the weighted blanket over her, and then pictures it being anyone else to give her that, and that makes her heart sink.
She doesn't want it to be from anyone else, so she doesn't want to guess in case it shatters her reality.
"Ummmm," Addison takes forever to decide, looking around the room, and searching Meredith's face for her signature smirk, which could be telling. She doesn't find it there though, so she decides to look past it, even as she keeps drifting her eyes back to see how the blonde is reacting.
"I have no idea," Addison finally admits plainly.
"Then just take a guess," offers Callie.
"Oh… Is it…" Addison tries to stall out for time.
Addison thought it was Derek at first, because he would have known she liked all of those things, but then again he might not have known her penchant for lavender because that's more of a recent phenomenon, so then she limits her guesses to one of the girls who was at that sleepover that day at Meredith's, and she figures it could have been Cristina or Izzie, and then she tries to stare them down to see if she can figure it out that way.
And Cristina is smirking at her, but perhaps more out of her discomfort, and Izzie is smiling at her encouragingly, but of course, Izzie just always does that.
"Perhaps it's…" Addison tries, as she glances around the room one last time, and she notices that Meredith isn't meeting her gaze anymore, so maybe it could be the blonde after all.
"Oh come on, Addison," Derek says rather impatiently.
"Hey!" Addison protests at being rushed at this. "Alright, I think it's Meredith Grey then," Addison tries to say confidently, and she does so, and she stares her ex-husband in the eye as she does so, just so she can see his expression, and this makes her bite her lip and smile a little.
"Grey?" Callie prompts her.
"Ha, I knew you'd get found out!" Cristina admits this for her.
"Cristina!" Meredith protests, and mumbles that she's guessed correctly, smiling tightly but still looking away from Addison.
Addison tries to meet her eyes again, her whole heart swelling that Meredith had been so thoughtful, and her whole body heating up at the thought of Meredith imagining her using all of those bath products.
Derek raises his eyebrows at this, and Mark grins again, and Alex nods to himself, and George just turns bright pink. And Izzie finally congratulates her on her guessing.
"Nice job, Dr. Montgomery," Izzie says formally.
"Thanks…" Addison blushes, as she tries to stop grinning so widely.
"Who do you want to guess next?" Callie finally asks her.
"Oh, umm, Izzie?" Addison asks at random, because she's too flustered to think more about it.
Meredith, sitting next to her, leans over a little, and Addison can't help but whisper in her ear a not-so-subtle "thank-you," to which the blonde nuzzles closer to her to whisper "you're welcome," and Addison can't help but nuzzle her back into the crook of her neck a bit.
"Hmm, so my secret Santa's a fast learner, so I think it must be Burke," she announces.
"Yeah," says Preston, "You got me," he smiles.
"Burke, do you want to guess next?" Izzie says.
"Alex," he says quickly.
"Yeah," says Alex. "I have a younger brother so I know all the best nerf guns," he explains.
"Alex do you want to guess then?" Burke offers.
"Callie," he says surprisingly. "I think an ortho chick would know all about transformers," he says.
"You got me," says Callie. "And now… Meredith, do you want to guess?" Callie says, before there are too few participants in the circle to make it fun for her.
"Addison Montgomery," Meredith says without missing a beat.
And of course, everyone at the entire circle knows the implications of this, and Meredith revels in Addison going far redder than a cherry.
"Mmhmm," Addison mumbles, as she sees everyone staring at her, knowing that she'd gotten her ex-husband's ex-mistress a sex toy (or several!).
"I'm a winner," Meredith husks, as she nuzzles even closer to Addison's side contentedly.
Addison bites her lip - hard - not to moan out at the blonde's words in front of everybody.
"Oh, and I pick George to guess next," Meredith says nonchalantly, as she has the game continue.
Off the realization that Addison and Meredith had been each other's secret Santa's though, Meredith started to get bolder and bolder, as she started subtly touching Addison where their hands were hidden by their bodies, on her hip, on her shoulder…
"Meredith-" Addison gasps as the woman's touch makes her breathless.
"I love imagining all the ways you wanted me to be naughty…" Meredith whispers into her ear so softly that only Addison could hear her.
Addison gasps, and closes her eyes not to show the pure lust in them in front of the room.
The game continues, as George guesses Dr. Webber correctly, and then he has Callie guess, and Callie guesses Cristina.
"Alright, so I guess mine must have been Dr. Sloan," says Bailey finally.
"Aren't I the very best gift-giver of all time!" Mark announces non-humbly, and completely in character.
"You're not too bad," Bailey smiles.
"Wait, but then who was giving gifts to Derek then?" Asks Dr. Webber.
"It would have to be George," offers Cristina, who had been making a list all along.
"How did you know my clothing sizes?" asks Derek.
"I just guessed them," says George.
"Must have an eye for it," Bailey smiles.
"I just bought everything in a medium…" George shrugs.
"Well it worked out, I think it's lovely," says Derek.
As the game concludes, and everyone has come full circle, they all shake hands and say 'good game,' and go around to say thank you to their secret Santa's.
"And congratulations to the gift-giving pair," Callie smiles at Meredith and Addison. "Aren't you glad that you played in the end?" Callie asks Addison.
"What, you weren't even going to play!?" Meredith teases.
"She had to convince me," says Addison, still blushing.
"Are you convinced yet?" Meredith asks her.
"I think so…" Addison says shyly.
"Well, I certainly am," Meredith winks at her.
Addison whimpers a little bit, and Meredith practically growls.
"Meredith I-" Addison goes to say something more, and she tries to find the words to express all the feelings she's feeling.
"Shh-" Meredith soothes over her lips with her finger. "I'd like to take you to dinner, to thank you, Dr. Montgomery," Meredith offers mischievously.
"But you already took me for lunch…" Addison panics, "I guess I should be taking you for dinner for guessing me so fast," says Addison.
"As you wish," Meredith says with her signature smile, smirking as Addison realizes she'd been playing into the blonde's hands the entire time.
"Sounds like a plan then," says Addison, smiling into the hug that Meredith is offering her.
"Mm, or it could sound like a date, what do you say, huh?" Meredith purrs into Addison's ear.
And this time, Addison doesn't hesitate before she grins, and nods at Meredith's proposition rather vigorously.
****** END OF CHAPTER 11
Author's note:
Hello friends, welcome back, and thanks so much for hanging around for this holiday fun fluffy story! It has been a delight to write, and to interact with folks with. Here we are, after a long and wild ride of secret Santa shenanigans, with I hope a lot of friendship misadventures along the way. So this is sort-of the ending of the main plot of this story… And I'd love to hear in the comments the parts you've appreciated about this work and this chapter so far, and what made this story for you so effective. Additionally, I was thinking of doing a follow-up chapter to this, of their date, and I was wondering what would interest you more for the rating of it? Let me know, have a fantastic week folks. You are the best! Aaaaand...There also might be some more space for some 100-word prompt fics for amazing reviewers out there stay tuned ;)
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